Method to the Madness
by RaeSoul
Summary: Danny never thought of what his Ghost Half could be, or what potental it could give him with the right motivation. But when it does happen, and Danny now has a new set of powers to learn, he has to learn fast, for danger looms just over the horizon. He gains new friends that help him to understand and train, even after what happened in his past. Vizard Danny. 'T' for Safety.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright everyone! Yes, I am back with a new story! This is my Bleach /Danny Phantom crossover! I know I many more stories that I need to finish, but to be honest- they are kinda dying on me, so I'm trying to save then, but it's a battle. I already have several chapters for this story typed up and many more planned out already- so this one might be a little harder to kill. I hope.**

**But just a little about this story- there will be pairings. But some won't show up until later. The major ones are **_Ichigo X Rukia, Danny X Yuzu, Karin X Toshiro, Uyru X Orihime and Renji X Tataski_.** I you want any others to show up- ask, I'll see about it.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

* * *

_Run! Keep running! Don't stop! Move! MOVE!_

**"Aaaowwww!"**

A pair of fearful blue eyes looked back to the place where the howl seemed to be coming from. Glowing yellow eyes looked hauntingly from the darkness before zeroing on him. He turned forward once more, fear pushing his legs beyond their capabilities, muscles tearing at the effort. Yet the pain didn't stop him as he pushed forward, not wanting to be eaten and knowing, in some instinctive level, that the creature pursuing him would do just that if it were to catch him.

_Run! Don't get caught! If you do, you're dead! RUN!_

The boy looked back once again, only to see nothing but darkness. He turned forward again, giving a sigh of relief, thinking he had lost it-

-only to see the yellow eyes in front of him instead. He screamed and forced himself to skid to a stop and dart in another direction, away from those hungry eyes.

_Run! Faster! FASTER!_

He didn't move fast enough.

He suddenly felt a large heavy weight slam into his back and throw him onto the ground where he was pinned by a seemingly invisible hand. NO! He looked back, body trembling as he saw the glowing eyes mere inches form his face. Suddenly a huge maw opened from under those eyes, and lunged.

He closed his eyes and screamed as death came upon him-

"Danny! Wake up! Your friends are down stairs waiting for you! You're late!"

Blue eyes widened as his scream was strangled by his gasping breath. His body trembled as cold sweat damped his skin. Daniel Fenton sat up quickly and started patting himself to make sure he was all there. Once he reassured himself no body parts or bits of flesh were missing, he gave a loud sigh of relief, only to flinch when there was another pounding on his door.

"Danny Fenton, if you don't answer me with a proper response in the next second I'll-"

"Jeez, Jazz, Shut up, I'm awake!" Danny, snapped, sliding out of bed, noticing the time on the clock. 'Crap, I am so late for school'. He grabbed a pair of clean jeans and a shirt and got dressed, the tremors of fear finally leaving his body as all thoughts of the nightmare left him. He darted to the bathroom, nearly knocking over his older sister, Jazz, as he went by. After five minutes of getting ready, he ran down stairs to greet his impatiently waiting friends with an apology.

"Damn, guys… I'm so sorry! Come on, let's get going before Mr. Lancer gives us something worse than detention for being late!" he said, darting out the front door as he went. He stopped at the end of the block and turned to see his two best friends catching up to him.

Danny offered them a sheepish smile, his eyes still a little blood shot waking up from that nightmare. "Hey, sorry about that, I guess I didn't hear my alarm going off." The teen said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking away.

Sam rolled her eyes and gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder. "Whatever, Ghost Boy. Let's just get moving." She joked, turning back forward and moving down the sidewalk towards their destination; Casper High School.

Tucker offered the other teen a smile as he passed him by, playing a game on his PDA as he walked. "Don't worry 'bout it dude. I mean, what could be worse than detention?"

Both Danny and Sam froze and looked back at the Techno geek before sharing an exasperated look. "Please tell me he didn't." Danny moaned.

Sam pursed her lips and glared pointedly at the geek. "Damn it, Tucker!"

The boy jumped at the harsh tone and reflexively pushed the pause button on the game so he could look up. "What? What'd I do?"

"You just jinxed us!" Danny and Sam yelled in unison.

Tucker pouted sheepishly "Uh...Oops?"

Danny groaned and slapped his palm to his forehead with a loud resounding smack. "Aw man. Now I know something's going to happen." He glared. "Thanks, Tuck. I own ya. Big time." He said, before turning back to the road and continued on his way, trying to think of every possible scenario and possible escape routes out of it.

Once they reached the school, they were surprised that Mr. Lancer did nothing more than give them two days of after school detention. They all heaved a sigh of relief and moved to their respective desk to start their class work.

Danny tapped his pencil to the paper gently, his chin resting in his hand as he thought, not about the school work, but about ghosts. Or the lack of.

These past few days, ever since the nightmares began, there have been no ghost sightings, and Danny hasn't even detected a blimp of them with his Ghost Sense. Not that he minded, but it was the fact that they disappeared right when these freaky nightmares started that got him worried. It was weird, and normally he would just call it a coincidence, but for him- coincidences just don't happen.

He glanced out the window, pencil still tapping question number five on his class work.

"Mr. Fenton."

Danny blinked and looked up to see that his teacher was staring at him expectantly from the front of the classroom. "Yes, Mr. Lancer?"

The overweight and bald English teacher sighed. "I understand that these past few days with no incidence of running out of the classroom are by themselves, but I must ask you to please focus on your school work, and not on what's going on outside. You might be in your junior year, but your grades do still matter. Yes?"

Danny sighed and looked down at his paper. "Yes, Mr. Lancer." He said again and got back to work.

Junior year. Two years since he got his ghost powers. He found it hard to believe that it's been that long. Time just seemed to be flying by nowadays. He sighed softly, again, and tilted his head slightly so his bangs covered his eyes, allowing him to subtly look out the window once more. He almost missed those days without these powers, allowing him to go back to the routine of the average teenage boy, worrying about acne (not that he got any because of his ghost powers, strange as it was) and not having to worry about ending up as some wall decoration or a puddle of goo.

After daydreaming a few moments more, Danny turned his attention back to his paper and decided to work on it. In only ten minutes he managed to finish it. He wrote his name at the top and turned it over so he could lean back and looked outside again at the changing autumn leaves. It might only be September, and school started only a month ago, but it has not been the same as all the other years. His older sister was now a College student in Yale, in her freshman year and already climbing her way up the pole of success like she always does. She was only down to visit this week for a short four day weekend that her college gave out to their top twenty students.

As annoying as she could be, he missed having her around sometimes. He missed listening to her argue with their parents about 'ghost rights' and what not. She always supported him in everything, so he was very thankful for everything that she had been doing to keep his secret identity from them and subtly try and change their minds about ghost being evil.

"Mr. Fenton."

Danny bit back an exasperated groan as he turned to look up at Mr. Lancer, who was now standing by his desk. "Yes, sir?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Are you finished with your work? You have been daydreaming for almost twenty minutes now, and the bell will ring shortly."

Danny bit his tongue to keep back a sarcastic retort and picked his paper up and handed it silently to the teacher. Mr. Lancer turned it over and saw that the worksheet was indeed finished. He smiled and nodded before moving on to pester the next student.

Danny looked over to see Sam and Tucker were done too. Tucker was playing a game on his PDA- no surprise there- while Sam was reading one of her gothic poetry books. Danny smiled softly and leaned back on his desk and closed his eyes, waiting for the bell to ring.

* * *

As the day rolled on and still no incidents – unless you count having your text books stolen and placed on top of the school building by his long time, childhood tormenter, Dash Baxter – Danny found he was getting somewhat restless. Another day almost gone, and still no ghost attacks.

As soon as school let out and Danny and his friends served their after school detention, the blue eyed teen stood in the courtyard to wait for the rest of his friends to appear. He saw them approaching and waved them over.

As soon as they reached his side he smiled. "Hey guys. I was going to tell you to go ahead and head home, I'm gonna take a flight around town."

Sam and Tucker paused and looked at him in concern. "Still no attacks?" at Danny's negative, she sighed and readjusted her grip on her back pack. "Alright, you sure you don't want us to join you?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. I just wanna play it solo tonight. Go ahead home and do your homework. No need to be failing because of me. Ow! What was that for?!" he whined, rubbing his now tender arm, pouting at Sam, who was holding her fist out in warning.

"Don't go and pull a guilty trip like that, Danny! We're your friends!"

Danny smiled. "I know, I know, but still…I think it might be kinda boring tonight…again."

Sam sighed and lowered her fist. Tucker spoke up. "Dude, if you think it's gonna be boring. Then why bother going out in the first place?"

Danny shrugged. "Better safe, than sorry." was his only comment. He then turned away from them and gave a small wave. "Alright, well, I'll see you two tomorrow, and I'll try to be early next time." He joked as he left.

As he left the campus, he checked to make sure he was in the clear before morphing into his ghostly alter ego. Blue rings appeared, travelling through his body, they moved changing his appearance into the figure of the ghost boy. Black and white Hazmat suit and hair white as snow let out a soft ethereal shine as radioactive green eyes opened to survey his surroundings. 'Time to work', he thought to himself, as he then shot into the sky and over the buildings, giving him a bird's eye view of the town. He turned in a random direction and flew, scanning the ground below.

As the hour passes and the sun setting in the horizon, Danny was about to call it a night and head home, when a shiver wracked his body and a blue mist escaped his mouth. "Finally." He muttered and turned, to track it down. He partially noticed that the breath felt a bit weirder than normal…colder somehow, giving him a bad feeling in his gut. Still, it wasn't as if he could just ignore a potential threat to the town.

He picked up the location and dove down, looking for his target.

**"Aoowwww!"**

Danny's whole body froze, petrified at the sound. He slowly turned, barely holding back a scream at the creature that was clinging onto the side of one of the buildings above him.

_Run! Run away! It'll eat you!_

Danny swallowed and forced himself to face the creature and take a good look at it. It reminded him of a scorpion with a creepy skull mask and haunting yellow eyes that glared out at him hungrily from the slits.

Those were the eyes from his nightmare.

**"Aaoowww!"** it howled again, opening its maw to give off the tortured sound, sending shivers down his back. Noticing the thing crouching against the building, the teen tensed his muscles, charging a green energy blast in his fist, preparing for battle, forcing himself to ignore the desperate screams from his instincts that told him he should flee ASAP.

It launched itself off the building with such a speed that it took Danny by surprise, not thinking that such a huge creature could move that fast. He reflexively threw up a shield to deflect against the assault that surely would have rendered him in two. He felt the force of the monster's strength slam into his green barrier, sending spider cracks along the smooth surface. Danny used the spared seconds to jump back, just as his shield shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces with the sound of breaking glass.

Danny gritted his teeth and fired a blast at the monsters masked face. The creature let out a loud howl of anger and irritation, yet the attack left nothing but a simple black smudge mark to show for his efforts. Danny landed on the ground, dumfounded by the lack of effect his attack had on the creature, only to yell in surprise when the creature was on him in an instant. Its scorpion like tail lashed out and connected with Danny's chest with the force of a sledgehammer, forcing all the air out of his body. A strange feeling spread through him as the air around him grew slightly heavier and heard the sound of metal clanking together. Danny looked up from his position on the ground, to see a chain that was attached to his chest, leading away. He followed it, only to freeze when he saw what was on the other side of the chain.

Himself.

Only this Danny was lying completely still and was in his human form. Danny looked up to see that his hair in this body was black too, and he was in the old hazmat suit from before he went into the portal.

Odd. Did this creature turn back time on him somehow?

He looked up at the sound of air whistling and ducked and rolled away just as the ground where he was once stood at exploded in an eruption of cement and gravel. He pushed himself up into a defensive position and looked at the creature, whose pincer like claw was stuck in the ground. Danny glared and went to charge an ecto blast, but found he couldn't.

Eyes widened in horror as he looked up to see the monster's yellow eyes narrow in glee, knowing its prey was now defenseless. Cursing, Danny ran towards his body, careful not to trip over the chain that connected the two of them, desperate to try and see if he could rejoin with it.

The monster suddenly landed in front of him, and howled again. The boy skidded to a stop, watching in horror as it brought down one of its large pincers, and slammed it onto the chain- severing it with a loud shattering crunch.

Danny yelled and dove away when it launched itself at him once again. He felt the powerful limb slice the air right above him, ripping the back of his hazmat, exposing his back. The teen landed and curled up, rolling away into summersaults to get some distance. He threw himself back up to his feet, whirling around and jerked to the side just in time to avoid another attempt to sever his head from his shoulders. He did a quick back flip and landed on all fours, skidding back a few feet, tearing up his hands on the asphalt. He looked at the monster that was tensing to prepare its next strike, and then he glanced at his body on the other side of the road, lying still as death. He couldn't even see its chest moving, was he even breathing still?

He turned back to the creature, and gritted his teeth, cursing himself to the high heavens as he tried to think of a way out of this, seeing as how he was completely powerless.

He threw himself to the side, and once again tried to make a break for his body when the creature lunged. He successfully made it past the monster by going underneath it, making a quick beeline to his body. He heard the monster howl behind him in rage, so he took only enough time to skid to a stop and reach down to pick up his body, only for him to phase right through it.

He panicked, his hands trying to touch his human body only to have them phase each time like he wasn't even there. He would have remained in his stupor for longer had the creature not made a sound as it charged at him. Realizing he had no other choice, Danny abandoned his body and ran. He could both hear and feel the creature giving chase as he desperately tried to find somewhere to hide. He turned into an alley and ducked behind a dumpster, waiting with baited breath to hear the monster pass. After a few seconds, he heard the howls and ground shaking steps as it charged past, fade away into the distance.

Danny exhaled the breath he had been holding, before shakily lowering himself into a sitting position against the wall. Panting heavily to try and regain his breath and swallowing the bile and fear in his throat, he took a deep, shaking breath to try to calm down his racing heart, and tried to think of what to do next.

He glanced down at the chain on his chest when he felt a sudden discomfort, and saw that the links had grown mouths and were chewing through them. "No…" Danny whispered; somehow instinctively knowing that he could not let them reach his chest. He reached up and gave a tug on the biting links, hissing when some chomped down on his hands, but cried out in pain when the tug caused massive amounts of pain in his chest, right in his heart. He noticed that they were falling apart, and the metal was falling to the ground, bit by bit. "No!" Danny cried, not wanting what was about to happen, he didn't want this! He didn't know what, but he knew he didn't want it!

That last piece of metal fell, revealing a hole in his chest. Danny screamed when he felt pain explode in his chest. He felt something cool and wet running out of his eyes and mouth and nose as he screamed. He fought. He fought hard against whatever was happening to him. He didn't want to leave his friends and family. He wanted to win!

He wanted to _protect_ them!

_"Daniel…"_

Suddenly the pain stopped, and Danny cracked an eye open, not realizing he had closed them. He looked around and noticed he was standing in a snowy tundra with a few trees and rock formations everywhere, as far as the eye could see. It reminded him of the Far Frozen.

"Huh?" he whispered as he straightened up, looking around curiously.

"Behind you…"

Danny whipped around towards the voice, only to pause when he saw a man standing before him. The first thing that caught his attention was the man's strangely looking hair. It was blue windblown with a single darker streak up in the middle. His eyes were a bright pale blue with a jagged scar stretching across his right eye. A grey scarf with golden ends hid the lower half of his face with a pair of dark grey ear muffs, the band wrapped around the back of his head. A white trench coat with grey fur lining with furry sleeve cuffs and grey fur lined up the center of the coat, and dark grey pants tucked into black mid-calf boots with grey furry tops covered his lower half.

"Who are you?" Danny asked as he looked around again before looking back at the man. "And where am I?"

The man's pale blue eyes looked at him intently for a second before answering. "This is your Inner World, Daniel." He said slowly, voice calm. "As for who I am?…I am …"

Danny knew he had been telling him his name, but it felt like it had been dragged away by the wind, not allowing him to hear it. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear your name."

The man heaved a sigh, pale blue eyes closed for a second before opening again. "I thought as much." He said, almost sadly, before looking Danny in the eye. "Tell me, Danny…What do you want to do with your power?" he asked.

Danny blinked slowly. "My...power?" he asked, not even thinking about secret identities. Hell, the man said this was his Inner World, so why not? "I...I want to protect…my friends and family." He said, looking at the man.

His eyes narrowed, crinkling the scar slightly. "Say that again, Daniel, for I could not quit hear that pathetic voice just now!" the man ordered.

Danny flinched then glared back. "I said I want to protect my friends and family!"

The ground suddenly rumbled beneath him.

"Very well! Right now, outside of your Inner World, you are transforming into a Hollow- a creature that feeds on souls to grow stronger! They have no heart, they know only pain, fear, anger, hatred and hunger. That creature you had been fight that did this to you, was a Hollow! If you do not want to become that — if you want to be stronger, strong enough to protect those you care for, then before your Inner World completely crumbles around you, your new power will reside inside of one of these boxes! Find it and claim it before time runs out!" the man then vanished in a whirl of wind and snow as the ground beneath Danny cracked open like a fissure, causing him to fall in with a yell, before he crashed into water.

The boy thought it would be freezing, seeing as how the world was made with snow, but it was somewhat warm, almost normal room temperature. Danny was so shocked that he took a gulp, fully expecting to inhale water, but didn't. He could breathe normally. Confused, he looked around to see white boxes following him into the water. They all looked the same to him.

"The man said that one of my powers- new powers- will be inside of one of the boxes…but…how do I find it?" Danny asked himself desperately, looking around, hoping to find one that was different.

_"Sense it…"_

Danny's eyes widened at the sound of the man's whispered voice, but couldn't see him when he looked around. He noticed more and more boxes were falling into the water, and knew his time was running out.

"'Sense it', eh?" Danny murmured before closing his eyes and focused, reaching out with his senses, much like his Ghost Sense. He opened his eyes to see ribbons were now leading from the boxes. They were all white.

Except one.

A red ribbon fluttered proudly in the water, standing out amongst the crowd. Danny grinned then reached out and grabbed on tightly to it and tugged, opening the box and pulling it closer to him. When he looked inside, he saw the handle and guard of a sword- a katana style, if he remembered well, from the look of it, with a light blue cloth on the handle.

"Very good, you have found me. Now pull me out before it is too late!" the man said, appearing beside Danny once more, startling the teen.

"Wow!" Danny gasped, wheeling away for a second before relaxing. "Wait…wait do you mean 'I found you'? This is a sword!"

The man glared down at the teen. "That does not matter right now. Just pull it out before you completely Hollowfy and become a monster!" he yelled.

Danny glanced at the man before grasping the sword handle and pulled it out.

There was a sudden bright flash and Danny felt like a huge mass of energy entered his body, making him feel like he had just drunk a dozen Red Bulls all at once. When he opened his eyes to look around, he noticed he was once again in the alley way, panting on the ground as aftershocks from the pain and transformation crippled his body. He looked up, feeling something smooth and cool on his face. He quickly noticed it was a mask, and freaked out- thinking he had been too late, but then he looked at a hand through the eye holes- that surprisingly have given him his full field of vision- and saw that he still had human hands.

Danny pushed himself up onto unsteady feet and reached up to grab the mask. He pulled it off and turned it over, noticing Blue scar marks that stretched across both eye slits and branched off above the eyebrow points and turned into side way crescent marks, facing in towards the forehead. He went to touch it with his other hand, but noticed he was holding something else in it. He glanced down and nearly gasped.

It was the same sword from his 'Inner World'. He looked between the two items in his hands with awe. Danny then remembered that he had left his body in the street, and the he couldn't even enter it anymore. He sighed sadly, wishing he could reenter it and continued about his life.

_"You can, Daniel."_ A voice, that man's voice from his Inner World, spoke. Danny whipped around expecting to see him standing behind him, but saw only the empty alley. _"I'm in your mind, Daniel. You cannot see me unless you are here."_

"Oh great…now I have voices in my head." Danny murmured softly, his lips quirking.

The voice chuckled. _"Yes, well, in this case it's a good thing. But as I was saying before, now that you are a Soul Reaper, you can once again enter your body. Although, once you are in it, I'm afraid I don't know how to get you out of it again. And once you are in it, it will be harder for me to talk to you."_ The man said.

Danny glanced at the sword in his hand, studying it. "You…you are the sword…aren't you?" Danny asked softly.

He got the mental feeling that the man nodded. _"Yes, I am. Although, I could try to tell you my name again, I highly doubt you will hear it just yet."_

Danny was silent for a moment before he answered. "As weird as this is to be having a sword talking to me...Tell me."

His mind was silent before the man spoke again. _"My name is…"_

Danny waited, but never heard it. He gave a tired and depressed sigh. "Guess you were right." he said. He looked around and noticed a few odd things about his outfit. He was now wearing very loose black pants that were tied around his waist with a white sash and a black top to match that was open in a 'V' shape at the neck and long loose sleeves that reached mid-forearm. He was also wearing white socks with tan sandal's that were tied around his ankle. He had on a light blue braided sash across his chest holding a pure white sheath on his back that was held to the sash by a blue clip with a white snowflake, in the middle of the clip.

"What the hell am I wearing!?" he yelled and twisted to look at the uniform on him.

The man laughed. _"It's called a Shikakusho. All Soul Reapers wear them."_

Danny continued his investigation at the sword's voice in his mind. "Soul Reapers? Who or what are they?"

_"Soul reapers are the spiritual guardians of the living, helping the good spirits- called Plus's move on by preforming a 'Konso' on them, and purifying the bad spirits called Hollows, which I told you about. Hollows are spirits that were once Plus's, but were left alone too long without a Soul Reaper to help them move on and soon lost their hearts after the Chain of Fate eroded away- much like what happened to you. Although- yours wouldn't have eroded so quickly if it wasn't for that fact you were using so much energy to try and survive."_ He explained. _"You purify a Hollow by slicing its mask with a Zanpakuto- Which is what I am- to cleanse it of all the sins it committed as a Hollow."_

Danny paused in mid search of his uniform, having been in the process of looking down one of his sleeves, and looked at the sword. "Wait…you're called a Zanpakuto? I though the term for a Japanese sword was called a katana; which you look a lot like."

The Zanpakuto hummed_. "Yes, you are right, but a Zanpakuto is far different from a Katana. We might physically look the same, but tell me; how many Katana's do you know have a spirit living inside of it that can purify Hollows?"_

Danny was stumped.

The voice chuckled. _"Exactly. Now, let's see if we can find that hollow that attacked you."_

Danny looked at the sword, then at the mask before shrugging and putting the Mask back over his face, thinking that if someone saw him then it would hide his identity, and ran out of the alley. He had a feeling that the hollow might come back. But he figured it was safer for him to hunt it instead of the other way around.

As he tracked the hollow, following the Zanpakuto Spirit's advice as he went, he noticed he was faster in this form. Not by much, but still faster none the less.

He soon came to a stop when he spotted the Hollow up ahead. It turned and noticed him as well, and charged with an enraged wail. Danny planted both feet firmly on the ground and held his new sword out in front of him awkwardly. As it got closer, Danny shifted onto the balls of his feet, then leapt with a fierce battle cry and dragged the Zanpakuto down in a powerful strike, slicing the mask in half. He was surprise that this sudden change in appearance made fighting this creature so easy, yet his ghost half could barely touch it.

He paused as the monster started to disintegrated and vanish completely. "Huh…ya know what? That was actually pretty cool." Danny said, slinging the blade causally over his shoulder, and behind his head. He then grinned and reached up to pull the mask off, but as soon as he touched it, it shattered and vanished as well. Danny blinked at the fading pieces, a bit disappointed. "Ah damn."

The Zanpakuto Spirit chuckled. _"Good job, Daniel. Now, I suggest we get you back to your body so you can head home before your loved ones start to worry."_

Danny flinched and looked at his wrist to find his watch, but didn't see one so he could tell just how late it was. It was dark, so it was late enough. "Aw man! If I'm late, my parents are gonna kill me!" Danny turned and bolted in the direction he left his body in. It took him a full minute to find his body then another to figure out how to enter it, at which point the communication with his new sword had become a small background noise. He grabbed his things and ran home as fast as he could, getting home just minutes before curfew.

He busted through the front door before he bent over on his knee's gulping for air. He looked up to see his family having paused in whatever they were doing to look at him strangely. Danny collected himself before straightening and grinning, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Thought I was going to be late for curfew." He explained.

The big man on the couch laughed and lowered his cross stitching equipment. "Well, you made it with a few minutes to spare, Danny-Boy."

Danny smiled at his Dad. "Yeah, guess I did, huh?" He turned and walked up the stairs to head to his room. "Don't worry about dinner for me tonight. I'm going straight to bed. I'm tired!" Danny said as he ascended to the second floor.

"Alright, Danny. Good night!" called a woman with light brown hair.

"Night, Mom!"

As soon as he got to his room, he dropped his book bag down and threw himself onto his mattress with a muffled 'umph' sound and buried his face into the pillow. He could feel the energy leaving him as sleep moved in to claim him in its place. First, Danny looked over at his bedside clock and checked to make sure the alarm was set, before allowing himself to sink into the blissful oblivion of sleep.

He didn't notice a shadow move outside his window, vanishing into the night.

* * *

**End of Chapter One!**

**Tell me what you all thought? Questions, concerns? I answer them! just so long as they aren't major spoilers!**

**Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is my next chapter to MttM. Over 5K words ^^. I hope you like it so far. Have plenty more to come.**

**I Do Not Own Bleach or Danny Phantom!**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Danny groaned under his covers and reached out for his alarm clock with a seeking hand, found the snooze button and hit it. Pushing himself up, he let the warm covers fall to his waist as he rubbed his eyes. He blinked blearily around before looking out the window to see the sky slowly lighting up from the rising sun. He sighed and slid out of bed, grabbing a new change of clothes and heading to the bathroom for a shower, seeing as how he didn't take one last night. As soon as he turned the water on and adjusted the temperature, he paused as memories from yesterday came back to his mind. As he showered, he thought about what had happened and whether it was a dream or not.

_Hey, Zanpakuto… you there?_ He thought in his mind.

There was a faint chuckle that responded. _"Yes, Daniel. I am still here. Do not worry yourself; last night was not a dream."_

Danny couldn't help but smile softly under the water. Somehow pleased that it was not just some twisted dream. He finished up and dried off before getting dressed. He went down stairs and made a bowl of cereal, frootloops, and sat at the kitchen table to eat it.

_Think I could try your name again, Eskimo?_

There was a chocked laugh. _"Eskimo?"_

Danny scowled and stabbed the spoon into his bowl, sloshing the milk and fruity loops around. _What? I have to call you something till I learn your name. And you remind me of an Eskimo._

The voice continued to chuckle in amusement_. "I know. Don't take it out on your food, for it has done nothing to you. I was just surprised by the…nickname."_ He admitted. Danny remained silent as the man continued to chuckle for a few more seconds before he calmed down. _"Hmm, yes, let's try again to see if you can hear my name yet. I am…"_

Silence

Danny gave a depressed sigh and poke at his cereal again. "I don't know why this is bothering me so much…" Danny whispered out loud to himself.

"What's bothering you, Danny?" a voice asked from behind him, causing Danny to jump and bang his knee under the table. The teen gave a pained groan and turned to glare at the perpetrator.

"Nothing, Jazz. Just thinking."

Jazz looked at Danny closely before moving to get her own food.

_"I take it that is your sister?"_ the Eskimo asked curiously.

Danny grunted an affirmative and continued to eat his food. Jazz sat down across from him with her own bowl of Cereal. "So what's bothering you, Danny? You know you can talk to me, right?"

Danny looked up at his sister, wondering if this was something he could share with her. He swallowed and looked back down, knowing that he could —indeed— trust his sister with his life. He took a deep breath and twirled his spoon around in his fingers.

"Something…happened to me last night." He ventured slowly. There was a clang, and Danny looked up to see Jazz had dropped her spoon, her eyes wide with horror as she stared at him. Danny glared. "Oh knock it off! I haven't even told you anything and you're already jumping to conclusions!" he spat before turning away and grumbled. "Damn overprotective sisters." He could hear his Zanpakuto laughing in his head. _You shut up, too, Eskimo._ The laughter died down to chuckles.

Jazz relaxed a little and scowled. "I heard that, Little Brother." She sighed and leaned back. "Alright, talk. What happened to you last night?"

Danny nodded and slowly told her what happened. All the details. The nightmares, lack of ghosts, the Hollow, getting severed from his body, his Inner World, his Zanpakuto — everything. As the story unraveled, Jazz's eyes grew wider and wider till they looked like they were about to pop out of her head and roll away on the floor. When it finally came to an end, he said; "I don't think I'm half ghost anymore… I think I'm something else. My Zanpakuto called me a… Soul Reaper."

Jazz was silent for a moment before she finally spoke. "Can... Can't you morph anymore?"

Danny shook his head. "Nope. I've tried using the simple ghost powers, but nothing works. I think I could… leave my body, but I don't know how…and neither does Eskimo."

Jazz blinked. "Eskimo?"

Danny grinned. "Yeah, seeing as how I can't hear my Zanpakuto's name yet, I call him Eskimo because he reminds me of one."

Jazz stared at Danny. Seeing that he was completely serious and not pulling some twisted practical joke on her, she sighed and leaned back to think. "You'll have to give me a minute to absorb everything you just told me, Danny. This goes against everything I have ever learned and know about. So what you're telling me it that some strange monster called a 'Hollow', ripped your soul out of your body and severed this Chain of Fate that ultimately killed you. You then proceeded to try and get away with your body where you then started to go through your own 'Hollowfication'. You went into your mind, into a place called your 'Inner World' where you met this man —your Zanpakuto that you nicknamed Eskimo, who told you to find a power inside of a box to keep from becoming a Hollow. You did so and you now have a sword that can purify souls and lead them on into the next life… did I miss anything?"

Danny flushed and shook his head. "No. That's the watered down version of what happened." She made him sound crazy with the way she said it.

Jazz reached up and rubbed at her temples. "This is so hard to believe." She looked up at her brother. "Could you do something to prove what happened? Just to 'put the nail in the coffin', so to speak?"

Danny's eyebrows furrowed in concentration before he shook his head. "No. Until I can learn how to exit my body again —less painfully— I don't think so. But once I do, I'll be sure to find you." He assured her with a small smile.

He then glanced over at the clock on the wall and gasped, shooting up and tossing his now soggy cereal into the sink before running upstairs. He grabbed his book bag from his room and ran back down the stairs barely avoiding tripping before darting out the door. Outside he found Sam and Tucker walking towards his house. He smiled and run to meet up with them. "See? told ya I would be earlier this time." He boasted, causing Sam to elbow him in the gut. He gave a gasping laugh as he rubbed the now bruised area.

"Great." She commented jokingly. "Now let's see how long you can keep it up."

They laughed and joked the whole way to school, until Tucker asked him a question.

"So, find anything last night?"

Danny paused and his eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I did." They stopped and stared at him. He shook his head. "During lunch, guys. We don't have time for me to tell you what happened and answer all the questions that I know you will ask."

They were reluctant, but agreed. They arrived at school in time and made it to class before the tardy bell rang. They finished their work while Danny waited expectantly for something to happen.

* * *

Finally, after the first three hours of school were over, Danny felt his Ghost Sense go off. He didn't know whether to grin or pout. Grin because things were seemingly back to normal. Pout because he couldn't go ghost to fight them. He also noticed Sam and Tucker looking at him in anticipation, waiting for him to ask to go to the bathroom.

He shook his head at them, making their eyes go wide. Danny then turned back to the front as a sudden thought hit him. _Hey, Eskimo?_

_"Yes, Daniel?"_

_Why is it that I can't use any of my old ghost powers, yet I still have my Ghost Sense? It used to be a part of my ghost powers —my ice powers to be more accurate._

The Zanpakuto made a thoughtful sound before answering. _"That is a good question. Sadly, the answer, I'm afraid I cannot give you. Not yet."_

Danny groaned softly. _Why not?_

_"Because."_ He said, and left it at that.

Danny pouted but dropped the subject.

He looked back at his paper, his mind now back on the ghost he had sensed before, hoping that some other competent ghost hunter —like Valerie— could take care of it. As the class continued, Danny couldn't stop fidgeting and looking out the window every few seconds, trying to find out if anything had happened. Soon enough, the bell rang, releasing the students for lunch. Danny stood, met Sam and Tucker's eyes and nodded —signaling them to follow him. He led them through the school, heading towards the football field and behind the bleachers. Once he checked to make sure it was clear, he turned to them.

_"Can you trust them?"_ he heard his Zanpakuto ask faintly.

Danny nodded. _Yes, I can._ With that out of the way, he spoke to Sam and Tucker: "I believe that I found the source that was keeping the ghosts away from here. And more than likely my nightmares too."

He relayed what had happened last night, the same as he told his sister back home this morning. They pretty much had the same reaction as Jazz did; eyes about to pop and roll away. He was starting to wish he had a camera so he could take a picture.

"…and right now I'm trying to learn my Zanpakuto's name, but every time he says it, I can't hear it —like he gets bleeped out or something. So I'm calling him Eskimo right now till I learn it." Danny finished, and crossed his arms, waiting for some sort of reaction.

Tucker gave him a skeptical look. "Danny…it's not even April Fool's day yet…" he trailed off slowly.

Danny's eye twitched. "I'm not playing a practical joke on you. This is serious. I can't even use my ghost powers anymore." He told them with a bitter note.

They realized that was indeed telling them the truth. "Wow…" they said in unison.

Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I know. I'm still a bit surprised myself."

Sam looked up at him. "Danny… was that why you didn't go after that ghost during class? You can't use your ghost powers? But you said you have new ones, why not use those?"

Danny flushed. "Yeah well… there's a small problem… I… can't exit my body like Eskimo says I need to do in order to fight."

"I should be able to help you there!" a cheerful voice called, throwing the teens into a defense. They turned to see a man walking up to them. He had blonde hair covered by a green and white striped bucket hat that shaded his eyes. He wore green Japanese style clothes with a loose brown trench coat type of jacket and wooden clogged shoes. He held a cane in one hand, even though he obviously didn't need it.

Danny tensed and raised his fist, ready to fight. "Who are you?" he demanded.

The man smiled and pulled out a fan to cover the bottom of his face. "Me? I'm just a humble candy store owner. Name's Urahara Kisuke. But seeing as how this is America, it would be Kisuke Urahara. Pleased to meet you." They could detect a Japanese accent coming from his voice that sounded playful.

Danny glared at the man before slowly lowering his arms, but not his guard. "You said you could help me? What do you mean?"

Urahara hummed for a few seconds before he gave an "Ah ha!" and reached into his robe and pulled out a small round green pill. "This right here." He held it out to them proudly.

The trio looked at him like he was crazy. "Um… Mr. Urahara… how is a… pill going to help us? And how do you know about me anyways?" Danny asked.

Urahara grinned and waved his fan. "Oh, well I was just hanging around the neighborhood and I happened to hear you needed some help to become Soul Reaper again!" He said with an enthusiasm so fake and thick you could taste it. He was lying. Even Danny —Clueless number One— could pick that up.

Danny's eyes widened. "You know about Soul Reapers?"

"Uh huh." The man nodded behind his fan again. "Yup. I sure do. Know quite a bit about them too."

Danny blinked at him and looked back at the green pill the man still held in one hand. "You said that could help me. What does it do?"

Urahara snapped his fan shut with a grin. "It's called a Gikongan. Or to translate it for you, an artificial soul." He said and tossed it to Danny, who caught it by reflex.

He looked down at the small round pill in his hand before looking up at the man. "Alright…what do I do with it?"

Urahara smiled wider. "Well…you swallow it."

Sam glared. "And just how can we trust you? Giving out things to random kids —teenagers or not— is pretty suspicious if you ask me!"

Danny looked up about to give a retort of his own, but only saw the end of a cane rushing towards his forehead. He didn't even have time to react till it connected. Danny stumbled back, holding his now bruised forehead and cursing loudly. He turned to glare at the man but stopped when he saw his body lying on the ground lifeless at the man's feet, and Sam and Tucker were staring between the three of them with wide eyes.

Danny looked curious and wearily at the older man. "What did you just do?"

Urahara smiled and lowered his cane once more. "What does it look like? You were being stubborn, much like another Soul Reaper I know, so I went ahead and showed you I'm the real deal." Danny checked himself over and noticed he was indeed in his Shihakusho once more, his Zanpakuto slung over his back, a comforting presence.

"Alright… you have my attention." Danny said slowly, straightening up.

Urahara glanced at Tucker and Sam with surprise. "My my, I'm shocked they can see you. Most humans can't see Soul Reapers…" the man studied them for a second before smiling. "Ahh, I see. I guess being in a ghost infected town, and hanging out with the most spiritually powerful being in it gave them just enough Spiritual Energy to see you. Not much else though —unfortunately. Alright, I suspect your family might be able to see you too."

Danny looked up startled. "Wait, normal humans won't be able to see me?"

Urahara shook his head. "Nope. That's why it is good to have the Gikongan I just gave you. It's an artificial soul that will force you out of your own body so the fake one can replace it while you're off doing business. That way you won't be leaving some seemingly dead body lying around either. That would make quite the scene."

Danny nodded and looked down at the pill. "Thanks. I guess."

Urahara grinned and waved his fan at them. "Aw, no need to thank me. Like I said; I'm just a humble candy store owner. I'm pleased to serve."

Danny deadpanned. "I somehow have a hard time believing that." He sighed and turned to his friends. "Believe me now?" They blushed in shame for doubting him and nodded. He moved and rejoined with his body once more. He flexed and stretched making sure everything was functioning before he stood up and turned back to Urahara, only to find him gone. Danny blinked. "Well, that was odd." He said.

They all jumped when they heard the bell, which signaled the end of lunch, ring across the campus. Tucker and Sam bolted, thinking Danny was right behind them. But when Danny at turned to follow, he paused, noticing a few items on the ground where Urahara had stood before. Danny walked over and picked them up, noticing a cell phone and a piece of paper. He heard Sam and Tucker yell for him to hurry up, so he stuffed them into his pocket, along with the Gikongan pill and turned to chase after them.

Once was sitting on his desk, Danny pulled the items out of his pocket and turned the folded piece of paper over and opened it.

_Dear Mr. Fenton,_

_I figured I would give you this Soul Pager with my number already installed into it. So if you ever need some help, just give me a call. It can also track Hollow's for you if you ever need to. Oh and another word of advice. To keep from losing the Gikongan I gave you, might I suggest sticking it inside of a plush toy? It does wonders to keep from losing them! That stubborn Soul Reaper I had told you about before came up with the idea. Pretty nifty, eh?_

_Your Humble Shop Keeper,_

_Kisuke Urahara._

Danny couldn't help but smirk at the note and stuffed it back in his pocket. A plush toy, eh? When he got home, he would have to see what he could do.

* * *

The day passed smoothly after that, so Danny and his two friends all headed to his house after detention. When they got there, Danny called for Jazz to meet them in his room as they climbed up the stairs. The boy dropped his bag and started pacing his room.

A moment later, Jazz joined them and looked curiously between the trio. "Alright, what did you need, Danny?"

Danny nodded his head towards his bed, telling her to sit. When she did, Danny began. "I promised that when I had a way to prove to you what happened, I would tell you —or show you." He told her, making her sit up straight with rapt attention.

"You can leave your body?"

"Wait- you told her?" Sam questioned, looking pointedly at Danny.

The blue eyed teen rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, I told her this morning during breakfast." Sam nodded slowly. Danny turned back to Jazz. "As for your question, yeah, I now have a way to leave my body." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Gikongan pill and tossed it in the air. "At least…I believe so. I haven't tested it yet, but that Urahara character said it would work." He said, catching the pill once more.

Jazz blinked. "Who is 'Urahara'?"

Danny shrugged. "Just someone who apparently knows about Soul Reapers that approached me. He said this pill will— gah! Never mind, I'll just show you… I hope." He then popped the pill into his mouth and swallow. After a second, nothing happened, then Danny felt himself getting pushed out of his body like something, or someone, shoved him out of it. Danny stumbled out and blinked before he looked down at himself. Yep, back in the black robes. He turned to see his body standing there, blinking a few times, before looking at Danny.

It gave a lopsided and relaxed grin. "Yo." He said, giving a slightly wave to the group.

Danny blinked in awe that it actually worked. He walked over to his body and studied it. "Do you have a name?" Danny asked. When his body shook his head, Danny sighed. "Guess will have to do that too." He turned to his audience and saw their own awed expression. "Yeah, weird- I know."

Jazz cleared her throat and looked nervous. "So… this is a fake soul that will inhabit your body while you are off doing… Soul Reaper stuff? That's a little past the line of 'weird', Danny."

Danny sighed and folded his arms, tucking his hands inside the sleeves. "I know, but for now, this is the best thing that I've got."

Jazz nodded and looked at Danny from head to toe. "You know, this outfit had the same color scheme as your ghost half's hazmat suit." She pointed out, tapping her finger against her chin. She then looked behind him and noticed his Zanpakuto that was sheathed on his back. "So this is 'Eskimo' I take it?" she asked, reaching out to gently touch the handle.

_"Please don't let them manhandle me."_ He heard his Zanpakuto, much more clearly now, ask in a pleading tone.

Danny chuckled and reassured him. _Don't worry, I won't. You are very sharp and I wouldn't want them to accidentally cut themselves on you._ He then reached up and grasped the light blue handle and drew him out of his sheath with the sound of rasping metal. "Yeah, this is Eskimo. But he asked to not let you 'manhandle' him." Danny said as he held the sword out in front of him horizontally.

_"You wouldn't have to worry about me cutting them. Normal humans can't be cut by our blades."_

Danny blinked at him in surprise_. Really?_ _Well that's a good thing then._ He then turned to his friends once more, who were now inspecting the blade up close. When Tucker reached out to test how sharp the blade was, he pulled back with a yelp when he finger went through the blade as if it were water. "Eskimo said that normal humans can't be harmed by the blade of a Zanpakuto." Danny reassured them with a laugh. When he could start feeling the Spirit blades discomfort with all the attention, he quickly sheathed him in his scabbard once more, getting waves of gratitude from it against his back.

Danny crossed his arms back into his sleeves —finding it to be a very comfortable thing to do— and looked back at his friends… and body. _That's gonna take some getting used to._ Danny thought, much to his Zanpakuto's amusement.

Sighing, Danny looked at his twin. "So, what do I do to reenter my body?"

The Gikongan looked a little put out, but then grinned. "Oh, just walk into it. It should force the pill back out again."

Danny noticed the soul's reluctance to go back to being a pill, so he smiled calmly at it. "Don't worry, we plan to get you a temporary body to inhabit while you're not using mine."

The look-a-like blinked in surprise at the new Soul Reaper, before giving him a relieved and grateful smile. "Sweet. Ready when you are."

Danny nodded and walked over to it and pushed entered his body. He felt the pill come up his throat causing him to cough and spit it out into the air. He reached out and snatched it, looking back down at it. "Alright, time to find you a new host." Danny said, walking out of his room into the hallway, so focused on the task at hand he forgot the others were following him.

"Danny, wait!" He heard his friends call as they came up behind him. "What do you mean by that?"

Danny blinked at her confusedly before grinning sheepishly. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Urahara said I could use a stuffed animal or a plushie to store the pill until I need it. That way I won't lose it." He explained then pointed up. "I was about to go into the attic to see what I could find for the Gikongan. I know a lot of my old stuff toys were put up there for storage."

They all heaved a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness, man." Tucker said, adjusting his glasses. "We thought you were going to find a real body to put that thing in."

Danny snorted. "Where the hell am I going to find one of those?" he joked before turning and reaching up to grab the string that was dangling from the ceiling. He gave it a tug and some wooden stairs slid down, leading into darkness. He started to climb up the steps, and entered the dark attic. He looked around and moved out of the way so his friends and sister could join him. Once he sensed that they were all up there, Danny asked: "Anyone got a flashlight?"

Click.

A light lit up the attic, to show many piles of boxes that were lined against the walls. Danny turned to see Sam was holding a cord that led up to a light bulb hanging above her. She offered a sheepish smile. "The thing kept hitting me in the face. So I yanked on it and… _Voila_." She said, letting go of the cord.

Danny grinned. "Well, good job." He turned back to the dusty space around him. "Well, anything you find that could be used, just throw it in the middle. We can pick something after we search through everything." Danny said, moving over towards a nearby group of boxes.

They searched for over half an hour till all the boxes had been checked. Once they were finished, they met up in the middle of the floor to look at all the candidates. They looked through them and managed to get rid of a few possibilities. Danny picked up an old red stuffed fox plushy and held it up. "How about this thing? It used to be mine when I was a kid." He asked, checking it over for any rips or tears. Once he was sure it was all in one piece, Danny smiled. This used to be his favorite toy, and to find it was still in good condition pleased him.

Jazz smiled. "I remember that thing. You used to always bring it with you everywhere when you were in elementary school."

Danny chuckled. "Yup." He then looked at it before taking the green pill, and slid it into its partially opened mouth filled with fake teeth. He waited a moment to check and see if anything happened, and jumped when it started to cough and squirm a little.

Danny grinned widely. "Well, it works!" he placed to plushy on the ground and waited as the Gikongan got used to its new body. It looked up at Danny, Sam, Tucker and Jazz with wide eyes, before offering a grin.

"So ya did keep your promise!"

Danny snorted. "Of course. I won't go back on a promise, even if I wanted to."

The fox toy smiled. "Then I'm happy I got stuck with ya."

Danny reached out a hand and the fox climbed up his arm and onto his shoulders where he sat. "Next step is to think of a name for you."

The Gikongan looked down at his body then back up with a thoughtful expression. "How 'bout… Red? Like my fur."

Danny studied him before nodding. "Red it is then." He then turned and headed back down stairs, out of the attic. Once down, Danny moved to the side and brushed off any dirt and dust that collected on his clothes. The group headed back into Danny's room, and allowed Red to investigate his new living quarters.

Danny sat down on the bed and heaved a tired sigh. "Man, these days just keep getting weirder and weirder. I bet that there will be a day when nothing surprises me anymore."

The other three teens laughed, but couldn't help but agree with the statement.

Danny looked at the time on his clock and groaned. "I guess it's almost time for you two to head home, eh?" Sam and Tucker nodded.

"Yeah, Dude. We do have our own families to live with. Not everyone can have the weird family that you have." Tucker commented.

"Hey!" Jazz protested, making everyone laugh once again.

Sam reached out and gave Danny's shoulder a playful punch. "Just make sure to keep out of trouble while we are not here to save your ass. Got it?"

Danny pouted. "But that's what I'm good at!" That got everyone going again, and Red was even chuckling in amusement from his spot by the window.

After a few minutes of cracking jokes and rolling on the floor, Sam and Tucker bid their farewells and left to go to their own homes. Jazz went back to her room to finish up on one of the essays she needed to turn in when she returned. Her parting comment was: "Just be glad tomorrow starts the weekend. That way you have a few days to get to understand these new powers of yours."

Danny plopped down on his bed and sighed, feeling Red jumping up to join him. He looked down at his new companion and grinned. "So, how much so you know about Soul Reapers?"

Red curled up at the foot of his bed and shrugged. "Not much. But I do know that ya are having trouble with learning ya Zanpakuto's name, yes?" Danny nodded sullenly. "Go to your Inner World."

Danny stared down at the fox plushy with wide eyes. "Go to my Inner World? How do I do that?"

Red snorted. "How would I know? Do I look like a Soul Reaper to ya?" he then sighed. "I don't know, Danny. Perhaps ya could become a Soul Reaper and try meditating?"

Danny looked thoughtful for a minute as he stared up at the ceiling above him. After moment, Danny nodded and sat up, looking at Red. "Yeah, guess I could give it a shot. It's not going to kill me." He paused but looked thoughtfully at Red. "But…how am I going to get that pill back."

Red hesitated before sighing miserably. "Damn, guess ya'll have to reach down my throat to get it. And that doesn't sound pleasant…" he fox mumbled.

Danny winced and nodded. "Yeah. But I have no other way to get it, do I?"

Red got up and walked over to Danny and sat before him, large red ears perked with determination. "It's not like it's gonna kill me," he echoed Danny's previous words, causing the teen to crack a grin.

"Alright, you ready?"

Red nodded and so Danny reached out to grab him and shoved his hand into the Fox's mouth. After a few seconds of searching, his fingers brushed against the smooth surface of the pill and he grabbed it, pulling it out of the now limp plushy. As soon as he got it Danny wiped it off on his shirt before tossing it in his mouth and swallowed it.

Suddenly, Danny was shoved out of his body once more as Red took over. Danny smiled sheepishly at Red. "Sorry about that." He said.

Red waved it away. "Meh. Coulda been worse." He then reclined back on Danny's bed. "Go ahead and do your thing. I'll just take a nap."

Danny nodded before sitting down in the middle of his floor and crossed his legs. He pulled out his Zanpakuto and placed it in his lap, to try and feel closer to it. He then closed his eyes and relaxed. He let his muscles unravel as he evened out his breathing. Slowly, his mind began clearing and so he began searching in the darkness for any way to enter his Inner world.

He suddenly had the vision of a drop of water hitting a smooth surface, rippling out. The ripples turned white as it went, turning his whole vision ivory. He opened his eyes.

* * *

**End of Chapter Two!**

**Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**And here is my newst chapter for MttM. Shorter, I know- this one was a pain in the butt to write. But- You learn Danny's Zanpakuto's name in this chapter too...and you get to meet someone else here too ^^. Hope you enjoy- and sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes!**

**~I Do not Now DP nor Bleach~**

Method to the Madness~

* * *

-Previously-

_Danny nodded before sitting down in the middle of his floor and crossed his legs. He pulled out his Zanpakuto and placed it in his lap, to try and feel closer to it. He then closed his eyes and relaxed. He let his muscles unravel and evened out his breathing. He cleared his mind and started searching in the darkness for any way to enter his Inner world._

_He suddenly had the vision of a drop of water hit a smooth surface and rippling out, the ripples turning white as it went, turning his whole vision ivory. _

_He opened his eyes._

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Danny blinked a few times to clear the spots out of his vision before he focused on what was around him. He noticed with pride that he was indeed back in his Inner World. The frozen tundra spanned out as far as the eye could see.

"Hey, Eskimo! Are you here?" Danny yelled.

"I'm right behind you, Daniel." Danny turned to see that the man was standing a dozen feet away, watching him. "I must congratulate you on successfully entering your Inner World on your first try. Very impressive."

Danny gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it just went with my instincts so…"

The Eskimo nodded and he could faintly see the skin around the man's pale blue eyes and scar crinkling with a smile that was hidden under the scarf. "Yes, I see." A pause. "Do you think you could hear my name this time, now that you are here?"

Danny nodded. "Yes. I want to know your name."

The man nodded, still smiling. "Very well. My name it …"

Danny once more heard silence. "Damn it!" the teen hissed, turning away in disappointment.

The man was silent for a moment before he broke it. "Daniel, what do you wish to do with my power?"

Danny looked back over at him. "To protect, of course. That's all I've ever wanted to do with my powers." Danny then looked away and reached up and behind him to grab the hilt of his Zanpakuto and pulled it out in front of him. "When I had my ghost powers, I used them to fight and protect my town from the other ghost that attacked. I want to do that with my new powers as well." Danny looked up at the Eskimo. The man nodded then reached up and grabbed at the scarf. He yanked it off, revealing the bottom half of his face.

Danny had to admit he was surprised. Now that he was getting a full look at his Zanpakuto's face, he realized just how young he looked. The Eskimo looked to be in his early to mid-twenties. He was expecting him to look older with that scar that marred the right side of his face.

He looked back at the scarf that had been tossed to the side, watching as an invisible wind caught it. Danny's eyes then widened when it swirled to the ground in a spiral and started to change shape, taking on a humanoid form. Once the scarfs transformation was complete, Danny's jaw nearly dropped to the ground as he stared at the person that now stood before him, just feet away from the Eskimo.

Danny had to say it reminded him of his ghost half. The only differences were the outfit, which was an introverted version of his own Shihakusho. He's eyes had neon green irises on black sclera with a wide smirk on his face. He was so pale that is matched the messy snow white hair on top of his head.

"**Tch."** The thing chuckled in a distorted and warbled voice. It then reached behind its own head and drew a Zanpakuto similar to Danny's own, only it was darker and the cloth on the hilt was grey instead of blue. **"Well now, what have we got here?" **it asked again in that creepy voice that sent shivers down Danny's spine.

"Daniel." The teens Zanpakuto spirit said, getting his attention as he spoke, reviling sharper than average eyeteeth. "To truly find out if you are worthy of my name and power, you will fight yourself. If you prove yourself, I will tell you my name again… and you had better hear it next time!" he then vanished in whirl of snow, reappearing on top of an icy rock formation a little ways away.

Danny looked back towards the thing that resembled his ghost half, and gasped, ducking to the side just in time to avoid a blade through his forehead.

"**Don't look away from me, Danny-boy!" **it yelled with sadistic glee**. "I want to fight you some before I kill you!" **

Danny cursed himself and parried the next blow reflexively before jump away to get some distance. He wasn't used to close combat like this. He was used to firing energy blast from a distance before moving into the strike the opponent before moving away again. But this was a permanent close combat fight, seeing as how he had no long range weapons to use.

"**Running away, are we?"** the other version of him taunts. **"Weak! Pathetic! You are not fit to rule this world, nor our Zanpakuto's power!" **

Danny gritted his teeth with determination, remember what Eskimo had said. To prove that he was worthy of his name and power, he needed to fight and win against this other version of himself. Danny planted his feet firmly in the snow and launched himself with a battle cry back at his other self, sword raised to strike.

_I will prove myself._

Their swords clashed and the ring of steel echoed around the area as Danny pushed down with as much strength as he could. The creature below him gave a demented laugh and returned the favor. Danny jumped back, avoiding another attempt to cleave him in two, before charging back in again.

_I will win._

Danny managed to find a split second opening in the albinos guard, and dove, slashing his side, staining it red. The thing only laughed harder and swiped, catching Danny's cheek with the tip of its own blade before he could avoid it.

"**You won't be able to win, Danny-boy! You're weak! You can't even hear your Zanpakuto's own name when he repeatedly tried to it tell you! It's pathetic!"** the Albino taunted ruthlessly. Danny used another small opening to nick his opponents upper arm, ripping the sleeve and staining it as well**. **

Danny snarled and lashed out at the pale copy, almost managing to get him in the throat.

_I will fight…_

The albino jumped in the air and lashed out with the heel of his feet in a roundhouse kick to try and knock Danny out over the temple, but Danny brought his blade and arm up to deflect the blow, lashing out with his fist to try and connect, but missed when it jumped away and out of range laughing as it came back down on him once more.

The thing slammed its grey blade down hard onto Danny's silver one, causing sparks to fly. **"You're scared! You're scared because you might accidentally kill your opponent in battle. That's what makes you so **_**weak**_**!"** it laughed then leaned forward across the blades so he could hiss into Danny's ear. **"But you need to realize…sometimes, in order to protect what you love…you can't be afraid to kill!"**

Danny's eyes widened at those words before narrowing, then pushed hard against the phantom, and threw him off and away a few yards. He glared at the copy as he filtered those words, thinking them through to the 'T'. Danny had to admit, what the albino had said was true; that sometimes he couldn't be afraid to kill an enemy if it meant saving his loved ones.

As much as the thought of taking a life made him queasy, he understood that sometimes there was no other alternative. He didn't necessarily have to kill his targets, but it was better than being afraid to lift the blade he wielded to defend the weak.

He looked the copy in the eyes from across the distance; his own eyes gained a light green sheen as he took those words to heart. He then charged at his current enemy, and swung toward its chest. The albino laughed wildly with excitement, now that his real copy was taking this fight seriously, and dodged the blow by leaping away.

Danny paused and took a moment to glance at Eskimo who was watching him intently.

_I _will_ fight…to PROTECT, no matter what the cost!_

"**You're mine!"** the creature yelled, having leapt back into the air and was about to bring his blade down on Danny's head.

"If you want to know my name Danny, this is your last chance! Hear it and scream my names to the heaven above! It is-!"

_Clash!_

The Albino raised an eyebrow when he saw that Danny had blocked his attack with his blade, using one hand to hold it up. Its eyes then went wide when the boy's bright cerulean eyes looked up at him with determination as a grin split his own features, a light glowing green sheen reflecting his resolve in the blue orbs. Energy suddenly swarmed around the teen's blade in whitish blue swirls tipped with green.

"Freeze all Enemies…" Danny muttered, gazed still locked on the glowing green on black. Then the blue eyes widened as he finished the sentence in a powerful yell. ",_Tōshō_!"*

The explosion of energy forced the pale version of the teen to be thrown back and land in the snow a few feet away, eyes still wide with disbelief. He watched as the snow cleared to reveal his human self, his Zanpakuto having changed its form.

The blade was now pure white, like the snow around them, and the guard was now made of white ice in the shape of a snowflake. There was even a whitish grey ball of fur dangling off a short white chain on the base of the handle. The white blade had a light blue sheen to it where the sun reflected off of its smooth surface matching the still blue handle. He could feel the cold energy coming of the pair in waves.

He almost didn't even see the boy move. Next thing he knew, Danny was on top of him, running the freezing blade through his chest.

Danny grimced but stared down at the albino that he had just run through, and watched as its eyes widened in surprise and pain. It then glared up at him and smirked. **"Well …I lost."** it said softly.

Danny continued to stared and didn't move at first, until his Zanpakuto spirit- Tōshō, was standing right beside him. "Good job, Daniel. You now know my name, so I will now be able to start teaching you about my powers and how to wield them." he announced proudly.

Danny pulled back, taking the sword with him as he went, grimce deepening slightly at the dark blood that now stained the once pure white blade. The albino stumbled for a second when he was freed from the steel, but then straightened and moved to stand next to Tōshō, his arms now crossed and hands inside of the sleeves, not looking at all bothered from the stab wound it was currently donning. In fact, as Danny looked at it, it had stopped bleeding and closed up, fading away as if it were never there, causing the teen to blink with surprise.

"**I guess my work here is done…for now."** The copy said.

Tōshō nodded. "And you have done a good job too. Thank you."

The creature snorted before turning back to Danny, insane smirk on its face one more as his body started to evaporate. **"Well, this is 'bye' for now, **_**Aibou.**_** Keep getting stronger, and enjoy that power…while you can."*** It said, just before it completely vanished, turning into the scarf once more that was now lying on the snow, leaving Danny alone with Tōshō once more.

Blinking at the albino's choice of words, Danny sighed and shoved it side and turned to the man before him with a smile. He then tilted his head slightly and studied the man. "So…what was keeping me from hearing your name?"

The blue haired man inclined his head with a smile. "Resolve."

Danny blinked slowly in confusion. "Resolve?"

"You lacked the proper resolve needed to fight with me. You were scared. You were letting fear and doubt cloud you head, creating a barrier that preventing my name from reaching you. When you fought with your copy a minute ago, that gave you the resolve that was required to hear my name."

Danny took that in before giving a wide smile. "Thanks… Tōshō. And…to that copy as well, I guess. He was the one that helped me out."

Tōshō smiled widely and chuckled. "I should be the one thanking you, Daniel. For my power can now be used, instead of just sitting here idle and unused."

Danny grinned. "All in a day's work I guess."

Tōshō nodded and reached out and placed a hand on the boy's messy mop of dark hair- ruffling it. "For you, yes it is. Now, go ahead back to the real world. I do believe it is time for you to give my powers a trial run."

Danny, ecstatic about being able to use his Zanpakuto's power properly, gave a playful salute as he focused on leaving his Inner World. "Alright."

When the world around him vanished, surrounded by darkness, Danny forced his eyelids open to see that he was now inside of his bedroom. He took a moment to look around and check the time on the clock by his bed side, Red was out cold on the bed, sleeping contently in his body. Danny moved and stood up, bringing his blade- Tōshō up with him. As soon as he was standing, Danny felt a chill in his chest that escaped up his throat and through his lips in a light blue mist.

"**Aaooww!"**

Danny turned, just as Red jolted up at the sound as well. Their eyes met and Danny nodded at him. "Stay here. I'll go take care of it." He said and then headed towards his window, sliding it open.

"Be careful, Danny." Red said, reclining back against the headboard.

Danny grinned and jumped out the window. He landed on the ground below and started running towards the sound, hearing the Hollow's wailing every few minutes. He finally found it several blocks away, this one different from the last one. It reminded him of some mutated humanoid bat. It turned its mask face when he sensed Danny's approaching presence, letting out another wail in warning.

Danny grinned at the challenge. "Alright, Tōshō. Tell me what to do." He said, clenching his Zanpakuto tightly in front of him.

"_Release me first."_ Danny did so, and he now held his pure white blade in his hand with the icey snowflake guard. _"Now, channel some of your spirit energy into my blade. Then…"_ Danny smiled and did as Tōshō instructed, step by step. _"Now, repeat what I say!"_

Danny then raised the blade above his head as did as he was told, swung the blade in the Hollows direction, "_Hyōno Arashi_!" Danny yelled as he swung, and a freezing blue arch of energy was released from the blade before solidifying into ice, rocketing towards the Hollow. When the attack connected, it froze the Hollow as it split it in half. Danny watched in awe as the Hollow dissipated after being destroyed, the ice shattering and falling like glittering snow to the ground. "That…was pretty cool. What was that?" Danny asked, looking his blade in question.

"_That was my signature attack '_Hyono Arashi'_- which translates to 'Hail Storm' in English."_ Tōshō told him. _"I have a few other attacks, but none as powerful and effective as that one when it connects. I will teach them to you at a later date. Right now, head home and get some rest. Even though it is the weekend tomorrow, I know you teenagers love your sleep."_ He mocked.

Danny rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword back on his back. "Yeah, guess you're right." He turn turned and headed back home and climbed back up through his window.

"_You know, you can walk on air, right?"_ Tōshō said with amusement as he watched his Soul Reaper struggle to climb into the second story window.

Danny paused, halfway through the window and glared. _What do you mean by that? And why didn't you tell me sooner!?_

"_And loose this form of entertainment?"_

"Jerk." Danny muttered out loud as he finished climbing in through the window and into his room. _Whatever, I'll work on that later. I want to sleep right now._ He then turned and nudged the snoozing Red, waking him up. "Time to switch." He said, and entered his body, catching the pill when it flew out of his mouth. He then stuffed it back in the fox plushy, and crawled under his covers. Red then curled up at Danny's feet and relaxed, but not before he threw in a comment.

"You kick me off this bed, and I'll make your life miserable whenever I'm in your body. Got it?" the plushy stated.

Danny chuckled. "Noted. Night, Red."

"Mhm."

Danny closed his eyes and snuggled into the pillow, sinking into the comfort of sleep.

* * *

**End of Chapter Three**

**Translations**

Tōshō : Frostbite (Yes, I know it's the same as Frostbite of the Far Frozen- but I couldn't think of a better name for an ice type Zanpakuto...at least it's in Japanese, yes?)

Aibou : Partner

**Comments? Concerns? Anyone like what I named Tōshō signature attack? Anyone not like it?**

**Review? Please? With how little reviews I am getting, I don't think I will continoue this. Makes me think it's not as good as I had hoped. Review if you wish for me to continue! *glares at the people who had fav'ed and Alerted the story, yet leave no reviews.***

**Rae**


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